The latest evidence on Thursday suggested that Qualcomm might be working on its next smartwatch chip, which could possibly come with the Snapdragon Wear 5100 moniker.
This comes via XDA Developers who recently went through the new code that has been published to Qualcomm's Code Aura Development wiki and whilst doing so, the publication found some details that might be worth taking a look at.
A specific branch of code that has been tagged as “LAW.UM.2.0-00700-SW5100.0” has showcased two interesting bits of information. First of all the “LAW” wording that is present in the title hints at Linux Android Wear, as per XDA.
What Do We Know About the Supposed Snapdragon Wear 5100 Chip?
To add to this, the SW5100 wording might just be a version of the Snapdragon Wear 5100 moniker. Both of them added to suggest that the new code could be related to the new smartwatch SoC from the chipmaker Qualcomm.
XDA has also discovered further evidence that hints at the platform being based on an 11nm process complete with four Arm Cortex-A73 cores, which could result in improved efficiency and better power over the previous-gen Snapdragon Wear 4100 chip on offer now, which comes with four Cortex-A53 cores based on the 12nm process, which themselves built on the rather large 28nm design of the Wear 3100 chipset.
Do note that there is no hint or indication of Qualcomm launching a new chipset, but, if it is launched soon, it could be a notable change for the company, since there was a gap of two years between releases, given as to how Qualcomm seemed to prioritise smartphone chipsets and SoCs over wearable SoCs.
As of now, there are only a couple of smartwatches and wearables that make use of the Snapdragon Wear 4100 Chip, one of them being the Ticwatch E3, which packs with it great battery life and improved performance. Multiple devices running this SoC will be upgraded to Wear OS 3, so it makes no sense for most brands to adapt to a fresh SoC.
However, considering how Google and Samsung are trying their best to improve Wear OS with strategic partnerships, hints of which might be seen during the August 11 Unpacked event that could see the launch of a couple of Samsung smartwatches, this might be a good time for a new and efficient SoC.
